Girls swimming: Rosary dominates own invitational

There were a handful of goals for Rosary's girls swim team heading into their 11th annual invitational meet, which took place Saturday at the Regole pool at Marmion.

First for the defending state champions was to win the meet, something they had done eight times previously, and that goal was accomplished with consummate style. The Beads bested second-placed Lyons Township 348-273 in the eight-team meet.

The Beads also wanted to swim better than they have in recent meets. More than just swimming faster, the goal was to swim better, which meant cleaning up some mistakes the coaching staff had highlighted. Here too, according to Rosary assistant coach Glenn Brown, Rosary was successful.

"We didn't swim as fast as we wanted to, but we swam faster than we have been," Brown said. "Probably the atmosphere helped, and having schools from Naperville here helped get us fired up," Brown said.

Of those area schools that Rosary will see again at its IHSA sectional were Neuqua Valley, Naperville North and Naperville Central.

One further goal was to try to win each of the 11 races in the meet, and the Beads claimed six titles. Each of Rosary's three relays won. Camryn Streid won the 200-yard IM and the 100 butterfly. Athena Ye claimed the 100 breaststroke.

"I think we did really well today as a team," Streid said. "Our goal was to try and win every race today, and we almost did, so that was good. We had some best times of the season for some people, so that was good."

Like most schools when they host an invitational meet, the pride in doing well in their own water in front of their home fans helped propel the Beads as well.

"We were excited to swim fast," Streid said. "We cheered each other on and it was one of our faster meets of the season. Swimming here all the time in practice, we want to win in competition. I think, for everyone, our times are near where we want them to be."

Additionally, the Beads showed their depth with five second-place finishes in individual races. Anne Tavierne was second in the 200 freestyle, Sydney Vanovermeiren was runner-up in the 200 IM, Ye placed second in the 50 freestyle, Kathryn Miller took second in the 100 butterfly and Emily Ryan was the second-place finisher in the 100 backstroke.

"Little things were improved," Brown said. "Turns were better. Starts were better. We were aggressive in the front half of races, that was much better today as well."

Finally, the Beads swam without standout Alexis Yager, who was on a college visit. Many teams were depleted through injury or illness on Saturday, and the Beads weren't at full strength either, though they were dominant in the water.

"(Yager) has college visits this weekend and next weekend," Brown said. "Emily Ryan has had a bad back and we're trying to get her healed and that's why she only did the backstroke today. The kids just need to get into shape.

As Bartlett-Streamwood works to build its program, the Sabrehawks have made appearances at meets such as Saturday's, as well as the St. Charles North Invitational, which takes place in two weeks.

The Sabrehawks were seventh of eight teams in their inaugural appearance at the Rosary Invitational in 2015, and improved to fifth on Saturday.

"Our performance was much better than it was a year ago," Bartlett-Streamwood coach Jeremy Meserole said. "Last year, I think the girls came in a little overwhelmed, and this year, we knew a little of what to expect. We're coming here because we want to get beat up a little bit, and this time, I think they responded really well."

Bartlett-Streamwood senior Kayla Filipek proved why she is the state's premier sprint freestyle swimmer once again on Saturday. She won the 50-yard freestyle as well as the 100 freestyle. What's more, she is faster than she was a year ago. Filipek did not swim the 50 freestyle in 2015, but her time dropped two-tenths in the 100 freestyle and is well under the state qualifying time.

"We saw a lot of improvement from a lot of girls today," Meserole said. "A lot of things we've been working on transferred into the water. Just the overall attitude going into the meet was much improved."

Beyond Filipek, the Sabrehawks were competitive in a number of races. Brianna Cichon was fifth in the 50 freestyle and sixth in the 100 freestyle. A year ago, she was 13th in the 50 free and 16th in the 100 free, and her time dropped a full second in the 50 freestyle and 2 seconds in the 100 freestyle.

"I thought overall, we did really well, and it was nice to see the girls trying to do the things we need to in order to improve," Cichon said. "For a midseason meet, I think it went very well. We get to see some higher-end swimmers."

Bartlett-Streamwood and Rosary locked in an epic battle in the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay. From a large lead by leadoff swimmer Filipek, the Sabrehawks led wire-to-wire until the final leg, when Rosary's Kathryn Miller caught Sydney Kelly and won the race. The margin was just .03.

"We attacked that 400 free relay really well," Filipek said. "Obviously, it came down to the touch, but we had four girls together in that race that swam really well."